Running Streak - Days 29 and 30

Day 30

The forecast today was for periods of freezing rain and I didn't want to be running in that mess.  That motivated me to get out as soon as I possibly could, which was around 11:40AM.  The temperature was -1C (-7C with the wind), and I wore thermal base layer long sleeve shirt, Peak Performance jacket, lycra exercise shorts under MEC Dart nylon pants, Salomon Gore Tex ball cap and Mizuno Breath Thermal gloves.  Again, I was right on with my clothing selection.  It has been a good Fall for that; normally, I mess it up a few times before figuring out my thermostat for the Winter.  Because of the cloudy skies, I wanted to use the Tomtom because it locks on the satellites much quicker than the Garmin, but the Garmin was all I had.  In its defence, it locked on uncharacteristically fast today.

My run around the Bridges was terrific.  I ran just over 5km at 5:36 min/km pace, and I had no problem holding the pace.  I also felt great on the hill that runs along the locks beside the Chateau Laurier.  I'm definitely getting stronger, but oddly, I have been feeling heavier for the past couple of days. I'm not in the mood to get on the scale.  I will drink more water to see if I am slightly dehydrated and get some more sleep.  That ought to do it.

Day 29

This has got to stop.  It was the third day in a row that I squeaked in a 20 minute run on the treadmill after 11:00PM.  This time it was totally a thing of my own design.  I procrastinated by working through lunch and didn't feel like going for a run in the middle of the afternoon.  Even though I had worked up until that point, I didn't want to have to explain myself to others who didn't know what was going on.  Then I stalled throughout the evening at home - even falling asleep on the couch at one point - before I said, "That's it. Get your butt down to the basement and get the run in."

I did the same pre-set workout that I did last night and the night before: 20 minutes, up to an 8% grade, pace between 12 min/mi and 9 min/mi.  Again aided by a novel on my Kobo, the time raced by and I had the run in by 11:45PM.  I felt stronger and smoother than the previous two nights, but I'm also feeling the effects of lack of sleep.  It's really hard to fall asleep afterwards, and I ended up (again) watching TV until after 1:00PM.  Tomorrow, I'm running on lunch.